Voters urged to turn out for council by-election

Shetland’s returning officer is urging those living in the Central ward to turn out in force for tomorrow’s by-election to replace retired SIC councillor Iris Hawkins.

Six candidates on an all-male shortlist – Stephen Morgan, Clive Richardson, David Sandison, Ian Scott, Scotty Van Der Tol and Robert Williamson – are all hoping to chosen to represent the ward for five months ahead of a full set of SIC elections in May.

Voting takes place between 7am and 10pm tomorrow. The polling station for Girlsta and Gott residents is Tingwall Hall. Voters in Scalloway will use the village’s public hall, while Trondra and Burra residents’ polling place is Burra Public Hall.

The result will be declared following the count in Lerwick Town Hall on Friday morning, expected to be complete by around 11.30am.

Returning officer Jan Riise stressed his wish that young voters in particular would take the opportunity to exercise their democratic right for the first time.

“Traditionally, Shetland has a record of good turnout figures for elections,” Mr Riise said. “Although turnouts of 50-60 per cent are regularly recorded, some wards in Shetland have registered turnouts in excess of 70 per cent in the past. It would be good to maintain this level of public involvement in local politics when choosing a new councillor for the central ward.”

Mr Riise added that, for the first time, the count will be broadcast live via video link in the council chamber at the town hall from 9.30am onwards on Friday. “This is the first time we have broadcast the count in this way and I would encourage anyone with an interest in local politics to come along and watch the conclusion of what is hoped to be an exciting by-election.”

About Neil Riddell

One comment

Oladeji

April 9th, 2015 18:20

Bman: I went to college (La Tech)to be a pilot(professional avioitan). I’d say chase the dream!!! The view from 3000 is phenomenal. The noise and wind inundates you. At my size the Cessna 152 is QUITE small, and very uncomfortable to fly, but as soon as the engine starts to whine, all the discomfort is forgotten. If you have any of the concerns that Jim describes, you still have powered flight options! They’re cheaper and just as fun! Buy and fly an ultralight aircraft!!!FAR 103 covers powered ultralight aircraft. There are no training, physical, or licensing rquirements.(I WOULD NOT ADVISE ANYONE TO EVER ATTEMPT TO FLY ANY AIRCRAFT WITHOUT PROPER TRAINING!!!)You could also look into light sport aircraft which was a change instituted in 2004 by FAA (courtesy of Experimental association). It doesn’t require medical approval, either. Basically, if you can get a driver license, you can get a light sport pilot license.If you dream of powered flight I can promise you’ll never regret it! As an aside (I was at the air space museum (Smithsonian) for the 100th anniversary(exact moment) of powered flight.) It was great. I met descendents of wilbur orville and more importantly Charles Taylor (any other airplane nerds know who he is? don’t cheat by googling). I found out that the wright flyer is original except for the fabric. They cut them up into pieces and gave them as souveniers, and sold some of them to continue funding flight ops.Sadly some raging assholes flew planes into the world trade center and ended my hopes of being a professional pilot, by putting many experienced pilots out of work, thus creating a backlog that’d take years to overcome flying chicken transports out of honduras at 15k a year. I had a few kids by this time (4 of 6) and couldn’t afford the paycut. I was already working as a mechanic for Delta, so I just rode that pony til I ran out of quarters.

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